


Forever

by a_static_world



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: IronStrange, can u believe this was meant to be fluff, shitty ending but its fine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-09
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-08-21 06:43:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16571618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a_static_world/pseuds/a_static_world
Summary: 3 1/4 days is too long





	Forever

Tony had been in his lab for seventy-eight hours. That meant seventy-nine hours of worry for Stephen, counting the buildup to the slamming and locking of the bulletproof frosted glass. He had paced that hallway once every hour, sleeping only when FRIDAY told him Tony had passed out. Which was twice. In roughly three and a quarter days. The only thing that kept Stephen from magicking the doors open was the thought of how much he hated people interrupting his focus, and the fact that he knew Tony hated it more. 

On hour seventy-eight, however, a new noise emerged from the lab. It wasn’t the muffled screaming, cursing, clanging noises of the past three days. No, this was something softer, more broken. Crying, Stephen realized. Tony was crying. 

That was it. 

Half a thought had the doors easing open quietly, and Stephen saw Tony slumped on the workbench, shoulders shaking, clearly trying to quiet himself down. 

Motherfucking shit on a cracker.

Stephen had never been good with emotions. He tended to isolate himself from them, believing in the past that they were a waste of energy and mental efficiency. Since, well, dying, he’d taken a slightly more optimistic approach, but that still didn’t mean he was _good_ at them. Not in the way Thor was, where his very presence bled comfort, or in the way Peter was, teeming with laughter and youth. No, Stephen was angular, just about as bubbly and comforting as sleeping on a dictionary. 

He pulled his focus towards the man currently having a breakdown in the midst of axle grease and rusted bolts. The man he loved, though he rarely voiced it. The man who was almost entirely grey, not from age but from stress. The man who almost died for him, the man he died for. Stephen shook himself, entering the lab on cat-silent feet. Tony, naturally, whirled around immediately, pain stamped in every crease on his face. He looked wrecked, exhausted and teary and close to breaking.

And goddamn, if it didn’t break Stephen into bits. He wanted to soothe every jagged bit in Tony’s heart, patch it over with so much love that it could never break again. 

So Stephen opened his arms, and caught the flying ball of pain that came barrelling towards him. He wrapped Tony’s arms tightly around him, and both of them sank slowly to the floor. They sat in silence for five minutes, or maybe five hours, Stephen couldn’t tell. He wove darkness around the lab, cloaking them in shadows, feeling Tony’s heart hammering against his chest. 

“What was it?”  
Tony shuddered, saying nothing, but holding Stephen a little tighter. It was okay, though. Stephen didn’t mind waiting.   
For this man, Stephen would wait forever.

**Author's Note:**

> hahaaaaaaa its not stucky this time  
> I am fully ignoring Robin Hood, Kinda because I am Stuck  
> hope you enjoyed!


End file.
